Knight and Moon
by Renaa Blackrose
Summary: After a classified rescue mission issued by Yamamoto himself, Ichigo finds himself mystified by a mysterious white-haired girl with a mysterious flame ability. An immortal girl returns to the human realm to find her orange haired savior from years ago.
1. Flame of Destiny

Knight &amp; Moon

_By: Renaa Blackrose_

Flame of Destiny

Hollows howled all around them, Ichigo found himself beginning to tire under the intense battle he was facing, but he saw the end in sight.

Calling forth his hollow mask he sliced through many different hollows at once. The dark power of his own hollow slowly draining him, he flashed to his target: a prison for an entity that he and his friends: Chad, Uryu, and Renji were sent to rescue. Ichigo didn't know who, or what it was, even less what it looked like. His mask dissipated as he cut the skin-like sphere holding its captive.

Out of it fell a small figure, he caught it in his arms. Ichigo looked upon his damsel. She was a beautiful girl with long white hair with jewels in her hair. She was out cold, probably by whatever rebellion this alternate dimension was undergoing. Momentarily, he was mesmerized by her beauty, but snapped back to reality upon Uryu's yell.

"Ichigo! Let's get her out of here!" He said as he pulled his arrow back once again.

"Right!" Ichigo darted towards his friends as they made their escape back to the soul society.

The girl opened her eyes a little, just enough for her dark blue eyes to be visible. Everything was blurry, but she did see the shinigami's orange hair blowing in the wind.

Once they entered the Seireitei, Captain Unohana took the girl from him.

"Why exactly were we thrown into a hollow invested dimension to get some random girl?" Renji asked, not realizing the head captain was approaching behind him.

"She is one of a rare race called the Ryuu. That was one of whom was chosen to be sacrificed to the hollows. We cannot have the hollows connected to our world possess the power of a Ryuu." He said. The girl was laid on a bed in the corner of a room from where they were talking. All the captain were gathered.

"Such a beautiful specimen." Captain Mayuri said.

"For the moment we are going to keep her here under close watch to be sure that no creature uses her power to overcome the Soul Society. You may research her in anyway you wish, Mayuri." Captain Yamamoto said as he turned and left the room. Mayuri smiled. Ichigo wasn't comfortable with his order.

"You're going to let him dissect her like some sort of science project?!" Uryu yelled before Ichigo could speak up.

"How else am I supposed to find out the source of her power?" The less than sane Captain said as he smiled.

"How are we any different from the hollows?!" Ichigo yelled. Mayuri was about to explain himself, but a bright light shined from where the girl was lying. Everyone rushed to see what was happening. The nurse who was tending to her, was thrown up against the wall as a large shining white dragon roared at the shinigami. The beast dissipated revealing the white haired girl crouched in the window. She glanced back revealing her dark blue eyes, her white dress slightly torn. The moon shined behind her, making it seem that her pure white hair glowed in the dark.

With a powerful leap, she jumped from the window onto the rooftops, and began making her escape. People started going after, screaming, demanding that she return, but she escaped.

Ichigo just stood and watched as she escaped, her face still engraved in his mind.

Many years had passed since that mission, and Ichigo had become stronger in the many battles he had faced. He still remembered the girl, even though so much time had passed. Hollows had started appearing more often in Karakura Town. On top of that, he had a full time job now at Unagiya Shop, mostly against his will. He had already graduated, and now he was trying to have a life of his own, which is difficult whenever a hollow decides to enter into town.

"Ichigo!" Rukia yelled at Ichigo from afar. It was turning dark outside.

"What is it now?!" He yelled back at her as he turned. He was starting to get annoyed by how many times his work was getting interrupted. Rukia was in her Shinigami form, so he knew there was hollow trouble.

"There's a hollow on the south side of town, let's go!" She demanded. Reluctantly, Ichigo exited his body and raced toward the south side of Karakura.

"Why are there so many of them showing up lately?" He asked as they were leaping from building to building.

"I'm not sure, but right when they started all showing up, a large spiritual energy came into town and then suddenly disappeared."

"So you felt that too, huh?" Has someone from Hueco Mundo rallied the hollows again?

They finally arrived and Ichigo saw the ugly hollow roaring at them. With frustration from doing this nearly nonstop for two weeks, Ichigo grabbed Zangetsu off his back and defeated the beast with one strike.

"And your telling me you couldn't handle that?!" He said in frustration.

"Of course I could!" She yelled back at him. Suddenly, they heard more screams of pain from more hollows.

Countless amounts of them fell out of the sky and surrounded both of them.

"What the-?" Ichigo said as he raised his sword. Never before had this many come at one time. Rukia was back to back with her battle partner.

"I guess this isn't going to be as easy as you thought." She said, almost smug-like.

"Well," Ichigo smirked, "just don't get in the way." Rukia laughed with sarcasm thick in her voice as they both struck down charging hollows.

Starting out, it was only a few attacking at once, then they starting attacking as a whole. No matter how many Rukia and Ichigo slayed, more kept showing up. It began to be overwhelming, even for one of the most powerful soul reapers. Fatigue sat in. Now they were just on the defensive.

A sharp pain ran through Ichigo's leg.

A hollow had bit down on his thigh.

"Ahh!" He yelled.

"Ichigo!" Rukia yelled. But she was pinned down to the ground by a dog-like hollows. Ichigo raised his sword to free himself but another hollow bit Zangestu. Several hollows began making their way towards him. Is this how he was going to die? By hollows, of all things.

Suddenly, a white flamed consumed the monsters constricting Ichigo's arms and leg. He darted away from the hollows who were now disoriented from the sudden attack out of nowhere. Ichigo's injured leg gave way when he landed back on the ground.

While the hollow on top of Rukia was distracted, she used her strength to shove it off of her and went to Ichigo's side.

Something jumped down in front of them. Whoever it was, they were small, and wearing a white hooded cape. All of the hollows seemed to be concentrating on this person standing before the soul reapers. Soon, Ichigo realized that this being's spiritual energy was steadily rising, and the hollows were realizing it as well.

"Hurry up and get out of here, or they'll kill you!" Rukia yelled. The caped person lifted her head, revealing…white hair? The girl also had dark eyes.

Ichigo may have been mistaken, but she looked like that girl from years ago.

Her mouth turned into a curved into a smile as she turned her back to the Shinigami and jumped into the air. She soared, and all of the hollows followed her.

In midair, they formed a circle around her as her spiritual energy kept rising.

"What the heck is she doing?! That's suicide!" Ichigo yelled.

Her body glowed as her energy came to its peak. She outstretched her arms on each side of herself, and white flames circled around her. With the force and power equal to that of a bankai, the flames forced outward consuming the hollows. All of them had disappeared, as well as the girl's energy.

Her gaze remained on the both of them, more or less on Ichigo at least. Suddenly, she flashed from their vision. Leaving both of them curious of what had just occurred.

*Alrighty! I'm sorry for the delay! Bunch of stuff going on in life right now. I hope this story is better than the last I came up with. Please review! It helps a bunch!

-RB*


	2. Unheard Requests

*Hey! Soo sorry for the delay! But I think this is a bit of a longer chapter for you! Life sucks man, so I have had absolutely no time to work on this. But I am really in love with this story and I have been changing it constantly, so hopefully you guys will like it. Thank you for your patience!*

Unheard Requests

It had been a couple of days since the major hollow attack, and Ichigo's wound had already healed but the girl's face had still burned in his mind.

That girl he had helped rescue, who or what exactly was she? He couldn't help but wonder if she would show up again.

Ichigo left those thoughts behind as he reluctantly headed out of the door to his job at Unagiya. He couldn't stand this job, and tried to get out of it as much as he could, but his boss, Ikumi Unagiya would literally drag him back into it.

He walked through the door to the small apartment that served as the meet up place.

"Ichigo! There's my number one employee!" Ikumi said as she threw her arm around his neck.

"I'm your only employee." He said, monotone. He noticed an unfamiliar girl with short black hair, glasses in front of green eyes, and a stylish yet simple outfit, sitting properly. She was gazing at the orange haired boy, and then smiled kindly.

"Not anymore! I'm hiring someone new! I want to spend time with my son now that it's summer. That being said, I'm leaving it to you guys." She said as she turned to walk out of the door.

"Wait! Ms. Unagiya!" The girl said. Panic was on her face. Ichigo guessed that she hadn't got much information on the matter.

"Oh, yeah. Arora, this is Ichigo. Ichigo, Arora. Okay, you two are acquainted, so if you will excuse me…KAORU!" Ikumi slammed the door behind her.

Arora's head fell in defeat. Then she straightened up, and bowed to Ichigo.

"It's nice to meet you." She said.

"Yeah. Nice to meet you too." Ichigo said, rubbing the back of his head. After a short awkward silence, Arora spoke.

"So…what exactly do we do?"

"Basically, anything. Someone calls, we go take care of whatever it is."

"Oh, okay."

"So, how did she drag you into this exactly? You don't really look like the type to sign up for this." This was kind of obvious. Her small frame and thin arms made him question why Ikumi would even consider her for the job.

"Well, I'm old enough! And Ms. Onagiya said she was impressed with my skills." Arora said, matter-of-factly.

"Whatever you say." Ichigo found a piece of paper on the nearby table with a name and instructions. "Well, here's our first job of the day." The expression of annoyance fell on his face.

"What is it?" Arora said as she took the paper from his hands. "'Find a teddy bear'?"

"We don't get paid enough for this."

"I suppose we should go and get this done, since it seems simple enough."

Ichigo looked at her, the same expression still on his face.

"Alright, fine. Let's go."

They followed the address to the client's home.

It was an average run- down house.

"ONAGIYA SERVICES." Ichigo yelled while hitting the door. The door creaked open revealing a middle-aged woman.

The two soon found themselves on a broken couch across from the woman named Mika.

"I didn't think anyone would respond."

"Why do you exactly want us to find a teddy bear? Can't you just go to the store and buy one?" Ichigo said.

"I would, only that this teddy bear is a family heirloom. It's was my gift to my nephew."

"Don't tell me you want us to take a toy from a kid."

"My sister's family was killed in a major fire a couple days ago. They are still going through the wreckage." She said monotone.

Ichigo looked at the woman with hidden suspicion. She was awfully calm seeing that this happened recently. Arora picked up on his feelings.

"We both offer you our condolences. It must be hard after just experiencing this."

"She separated herself from our family several years ago. I just don't feel anything right now. But I want my son to have that teddy bear."

"How do you know it wasn't burned in the fire?" Arora asked.

"I want to know for sure if it is or not. I imagine my sister would have protected it until her son was old enough to take care of it. If it is destroyed, then so be it."

"Just have the payment ready when we return. You have the address?" Ichigo said.

"Well, no. They cut themselves off from the family, so I don't know."

Ichigo looked like he was a whole new level of fed up. Arora rose from her seat, and began pushing him out of the door.

"Do not worry! We will return as soon as we can."

They both exited.

They walked down the street side-by-side.

"How are we supposed to find anything on this one? And next time, let's leave after we get a name!" Ichigo yelled.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."

"Come to think of it, I remember seeing something about a fire in an apartment building on the other side of town."

"Well, then let's start there then!"

"It's our only lead so far."

After finding out the address of the site of the fire, they managed to sneak onto the scene at night. There were black ashes everywhere along with charred toys and kitchen utensils. It was a small apartment-like house. They were looking around in silence, when Ichigo finally asked the question that was burning on his mind.

"If that so important 'teddy bear' is here, how would the investigation team not find it before us?"

"I know, and wouldn't they contact the nearest of the family when they saw that it wasn't damaged?"

"Right. There is a missing piece to this whole story." Suddenly, Arora stopped and listened. A child's laughter filled her ears. Her eyes opened on a small symbol on the wall. When she touched it, a vision filled her mind.

_A woman and her boy were playing in the small living room. The boy's hair was as brown as his mother's, and they both were full of joy._

"_Mommy, why can't cousin Kai come play anymore?" The mother's expression turned sad for a split second._

"_His mommy doesn't like me anymore, so she won't take him over here. I'm sorry, sweetie." The little boy looked down as his lap, then looked back at his mother with the biggest of smiles._

"_It's okay, Mommy! I don't like anyone who wouldn't like you!" With a relieved smile, she scooped up her son in her arms giving him a hug._

"_Tomorrow, we get to go see Grandma! Does that sound like fun?"_

"_Yeah!"_

_They didn't realize someone listening on the other side of the window, was a woman with a gasoline can. _

_The night lit up with flames and cries of the mother holding her son in her arms as the flames approached her. While clutching her son's body with one arm, she stuffed an old teddy bear in a secret compartment in the wall. She crouched against the wall as the flames brought raw pain to her body. Her screams echoed while the woman outside smiled. Her jealousy has taken its first victim._

Tears ran down her face as Arora's body lost strength and fell back. Ichigo grabbed her in time.

"Hey! Arora!" He said, frantically. Ichigo looked at the wall that she had touched and saw a little boy spirit with his soul chain on his chest.

"Please don't let that woman take my bear. It's for our family."

Arora opened her eyes to see Ichigo trained on something in front of them. She looked and saw nothing, but could feel a strong presence.

"Who's here?" She asked. Ichigo looked at her in surprise. Her gaze was questioning, like she knew something was there and she did not doubt it.

"The little boy who died here." She turned back to where he was looking as he released his hold on her.

"You're worried about your aunt getting the bear. Why?" She asked. She could here the ghosts, but not see them.

"She is a bad lady."

"I know. She's the one who started the fire, isn't she?" Arora said.

After a small hesitation, the boy said: "Yes. And now I can't find my mother."

Arora's heart broke. Ichigo knew this was coming, but didn't quite know how Arora knew for sure.

"Don't worry. I'm sure your mother has already moved on." Arora said reassuringly. The boy smiled.

"Just stay here, okay?" Ichigo said. The boy nodded. Ichigo stood up, and Arora did as well. Her legs shook as she lost her balance. Ichigo grabbed her arm.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, that vision just took a lot out of me, I guess."

"So that's how you knew about all of that."

"Yeah, it happens sometimes. His mother wasn't the one who cut herself out of the family, it was her sister, the one who hired us."

"All of this for a teddy bear?"

"I guess we will have to find out." Arora stabled herself as she moved the metal symbol over revealing a hole. She pulled up and there was the teddy bear she had seen in her vision. As she pulled it out, she felt something hard in the middle. There was a small zipper on the back, and she pulled it open to find jewels and diamonds hidden inside.

"This bear held the family jewels." Ichigo said.

"I think we should take this to its rightful owner." Arora said as she smiled.

With a few minutes investigating, they found the little boy's grandparents and gave them the bear, and also tipped off the police.

"Man, I'm so tired." Arora said.

"Me too. I didn't expect this to be a murder mystery."

"So, you can see ghosts?" She asked.

"Yeah, ever since I was a kid."

"Wow! That's amazing! I only hear them, and get the occasional knock-out vision."

"Because of that, we figured this out a lot faster. Too bad the person who hired us is getting arrested, otherwise we would have gotten paid."

"Yeah, but."

"But what?"

"I lied to that little boy. I get the feeling his mother is still here, and I also feel like it's not a good thing."

This girl's intuition about things amazed Ichigo.

"Well, now we can go home." Ichigo said. Arora stopped.

"This is my stop."

"Okay, see ya!" Ichigo said as waved her off.

Arora was excited for her first day of work, but unfortunately because of her abrupt move here, she didn't have a place to live yet. She would just find somewhere out-of-sight to sleep. She finally found a comfortable corner to rest for the night.

"Excuse me!"

"AH!" Arora yelled.

"Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" Arora looked and saw a girl with long dark orange hair and dark eyes.

"Oh that's fine. I was just about to close my eyes for a while."

"You're going to sleep on the street?!"

"W-well, I don't have anywhere to stay, I just got here." Arora said as she nervously laughed. "I didn't get paid today."

"I have a couch open!"

"You're really going to let a complete stranger stay in your home? I'm sure your parents won't approve of that."

"Oh! It's just me, and my friends come over every once in a while."

Arora scratched her head from the hole she had just dug for herself.

"Well, if you don't mind. I promise I'll be out of your hair as soon as I find place." Orihime just laughed.

Ichigo lied in his bed while staring at the ceiling. He had found yet another person that was in tune with the spiritual world. Although, it seemed she was more plugged in even if she could only hear them.

Something landed on his stomach. Without looking he just slung his hand to hit Kon off. He was thinking the stuffed lion was just aggravating him again. He felt no contact. Ichigo felt it land on his chest.

"Kon, you little…!" He said as he looked and saw a pair of big and round green eyes looking back at him.

"Pppprrruuu…" The creature said.

"What the-?"

*Please leave a comment on what you thought! Thank you for your time and I hope you enjoyed it!

-RB*


	3. The Face of the White Dragon

The Face of the White Dragon

A white fox with red paws stared back at Ichigo while sitting on his chest.

"Get off of me!" He said while swinging his hands at the animal. It jumped on his head and started licking its paw, completely unafraid of Ichigo's anger. He grabbed it by the hyde of its back and looked at it in its eyes. "How did you even get in here?"

"Prrruuuu!" It exclaimed happily, then nuzzled him on the face. Ichigo pulled it away from him and sat it on the bed.

"It doesn't look like you're dangerous." He said.

"What is that thing?!" The stuffed lion yelled from across the room. "Get off my turf!" Kon yelled as he ran towards the fox. When he got close enough, the fox just brushed the lion aside with it's fluffy tail. Ichigo chuckled.

"I guess you can stay for a little while." He said as he patted the fox's head.

Arora continued her work cleaning Orihime's apartment. It was the least she could do for letting her stay there. It had been about a week since she had started staying here. Work at Unagiya shop was as steady as usual, and she had begun to get used to working with Ichigo. He was a magnificent man, and it was hard not to admire him.

There was still no sign of the young boy's mother. She was starting to get worried, but perhaps everything would turn out okay despite the pit in her stomach.

Orihime came through the door, and was surprised at the sight of Arora cleaning…again.

"Arora, you don't have to do that." She said.

"But I want to! You're letting me stay here rent free!"

"You're a guest in my house, and I can't let a guest do housework for me!"

"I'm not a guest! I am a freeloader!" Arora said while falling to the ground on her knees.

"Orihime, you ready?" A voice sounded from the other side.

"Yeah, everyone is waiting!" A woman with extremely large-….yeah said as she exploded through the door. "Who is this?"

A boy with white hair joined her.

"My name is Arora Baylin."

"Hi! I'm Rangiku! And the sourpuss over there is Toshiro." She said as she hugged Arora. She nearly suffocated in the woman's arms.

"It's…nice…to meet you." She choked out. Rangiku released her grip.

"So, will you be joining us?" She asked Orihime.

"Actually, I was about to ask her that." She said.

"Joining you where?" Arora asked.

"We're going to party!" Orihime said. "You want to come along?"

"Orihime, are you ready? We have to get going soon it'll get dark." Another voice sounded from outside.

The familiar orange-haired teen peeked his head through the door.

"Ichigo!" Arora and Orihime said at the same time.

"Arora? What are you doing here?" He said.

"Orihime is letting me stay here until I find somewhere else to stay."

"Yeah! She's been staying here for about a week. How do you two know each other?" Orihime said.

"She's the new employee at Unagiya."

"I thought you were trying to get out of that job?" Uryu said as he joined the crowd outside of Orihime's door.

"Yeah, well. My boss is extremely persuasive."

"Prruu…Pru.." A noise sounded from Ichigo's jacket pocket.

"What the heck is that?" Toshiro said, jumping away from him.

Suddenly, the white fox popped out Ichigo's jacket pocket.

"How did you get in there?!" Ichigo said. Arora gasped.

"Sia!" She yelled. The fox looked at her.

"Prrruuuuuuu!" It said happily as it jumped onto and then off of Orihime's shoulder into Arora's hands.

"You scared me, you sly fox!" Arora said as she hugged Sia who was nuzzling her.

"It's yours?' Ichigo said.

"Yes. When we first arrived in town, we both got separated."

"If you were so worried why didn't you look for it?" Uryu said in a harsher than normal tone. Ichigo glanced at him.

"Well, I did for the first day I was here, with no luck of course. But, she's proved more than once that she can take care of herself if she needs too." She scratched Sia's head.

"Oh! She's so cute! Can I hold her?" Orihime asked. Arora looked at Sia, and right on cue she hopped on her shoulder. Orihime laughed as Sia rubbed her head on her cheek. Rangiku joined in as well while the men just looked at them.

"Arora, was it?" Uryu said.

"Yes?"

"What kind of glasses are those?" Almost instinctively, Arora touched her simple, black frame glasses and pushed them more on her face.

"Sleek Sight. It's a more high-end brand that I got as a discount from my other job." Uryu squinted his eyes at the girl.

"So, are you coming with us tonight? It's going to be fun!" Rangiku said.

"I'd love to, but I have a bunch of errands to run. I made several appointments to find an apartment today." Orihime slouched at the news.

"Ah, man."

"I'm sorry. But next time, I will go I promise." Arora said with a smile.

"We need to get going." Toshiro said.

"Are you sure you can't just skip them?" Rangiku said.

"No, I'm sorry." Arora said as she smiled.

They finally left Orihime's apartment.

"Something bothers me about that girl." Uryu said.

"What are you talking about? She is a jem." Rangiku said.

"It seems like she's hiding something. And I think those glasses are a limiter."

"What are you talking about? She's not hiding anything." Ichigo said.

"How do you know?"

"I've seen what she can do. She can see visions, and she can hear ghosts."

"Hear them? She can't see them? That proves that her glasses are a limiter! She has to be hiding something big!"

"Would you knock it off?! You just met her!"

"Would both of you stop acting like children." Toshiro spoke up.

Suddenly, there was a jolt in the atmosphere.

"You guys have a high energy." Ichigo looked up, and standing above them in midair was a man with blazing red hair, and a large scythe across his shoulders. "You probably know who I'm looking for."

Immediately after detecting the threat, each of them readied themselves for battle. Ichigo, Toshiro, and Rangiku's gigai ran off a good distance.

"I can't believe I am asking for a soul reaper's help."

"Hadou number 4: Pale lightning!" The man didn't flinch as a burst of electricity shot through his body from behind. Ichigo recognized the voice. It was Rukia.

"What's hilarious is that didn't even tickle." He turned around to face Rukia. "Do you really think some weak reapers could defeat a Ryuu of my caliber? It's pathetic that you even try." The creature said. Rukia caught a glimpse of the rest of the crew behind him.

"This is a Ryuu. He's been terrorizing the soul society, and is now under arrest."

The Ryuu just laughed.

"Under arrest? Your strongest captains couldn't even keep up with me. If I understand correctly, all of them are in critical condition, am I right?" He said with a grin. The rest of the soul reapers gasped in surprise. One creature did that. "Besides, I only did what I had to. You beasts wouldn't tell me what I wanted to know. I know you held the white dragon in the Soul Society years ago. Where is she now?"

"She escaped. We have lost track of her." Toshiro said with malice in his voice.

"Word around our dimension is that she was looking for someone. A reaper. If I kill all of you, maybe she will come running." He turned and grabbed Rukia by the neck as fast as lightning. "How about we start with you pibsqueak." Ichigo immediately struck the creature, and knocked Rukia out of his hands.

"Don't touch her!" He said, angrily as he clashed his blade with his opponent's.

"In a hurry to die, or something? Fine, it looks like you'll be more fun anyway." He kicked Ichigo towards the roof of a building. Ichigo regained his footing and landed on his feet. Uryu joined them, but the rest were held up by hollows who had sensed the stranger.

"Could you guys take care of them for me? They have been following me all day." The stranger yelled to the rest of the group. Uryu took aim with his bow. "A quincy? How interesting." He twirled his scythe at the moment one of the arrows were about to hit him.

"He's fast." Uryu said. Ichigo nodded in agreement.

Almost instantly, the man appeared in front of Uryu, nailing him in the gut with his knee. Uryu collapsed on the ground. Ichigo went in for an attack, but was blocked but the creature's weapon.

They exchanged several clashes, and Ichigo kept up with the creature well. The beast leaped in the air, and Ichigo used the opportunity…

"Bankai! Tensa Zangetsu!" The Ryuu was impressed by the spike in power. Flames wrapped around his hand as he sent a beam of red fire towards Ichigo. He held Zangetsu above his head as he yelled his attack outloud. "GETSUGA TENSHOU!"

The black and red energy swallowed up the Ryuu's flame and rocketed towards its target. Surprised the Ryuu puts his arms in front of his face to block from the attack, only to met with the incredible force of the Moon Fang.

Thinking that everything is over, Ichigo relaxes. SLAM! The Ryuu landed in front of him, burned and scratched from the previous attack. He looks at Ichigo, with complete hatred in his eyes.

"You reaper filth! That hurt!"

Ichigo just held his gaze at the creature. He was both surprised and intrigued at someone who withstood a full on attack from his blade.

"I will not allow someone like you to hold the honor of injuring a Ryuu. Filthy creature! You will experience the full rage of my fire!" His whole body began emitting the red flames from before, but now they were more intense. Ichigo held his sword in front of him when he saw the red Ryuu charge at him. He knew this attack was going to be strong, but when he got close he knew the attack would do more that just scratch him.

White flames showered around him, and blocked his vision. When they subsided, the small girl in the white cape was in front of him, blocking the attack from the red Ryuu. She kept her head down from Ichigo's sight.

"The white dragon!" The red Ryuu said. The white dragon glared at him as she hit him, full force, in the chest, sending him flying.

Ichigo couldn't take his eyes off the figure before him.

"Who are you?" He said. She just stood there, silent. She turned to him, still where most of her face was hidden, almost like she was ashamed to look at him, and pointed to where his friends were battling hollows relentlessly.

He glanced at them and then back at her in question. Taking the hint, he raced down to help his friends. Uryu, who had just come to, looked up at her from where he was still sitting on the ground. She looked back at him for only a moment, then she pulled her foot up like she was going to kick him with all of her strength. Uryu put his arms up in defense, and she barely forced her foot on his arms in front of him. From there, she shoved him off of the edge of the roof.

"AAHH!" He yelled in panic, but Orihime caught him with her triangular shield before he hit the ground.

Ichigo destroyed countless hollows, then looked up at the mysterious girl who was now gazing up at the creature with red hair rocketed to the ground at full force. _Crash! _The building underneath them rumbled and collapsed, leaving the two Ryuus in midair.

The red Ryuu wiped the blood from his mouth.

"I've waited a long time for this moment." He pointed his scythe at the white dragon. " I am Jarek, and I challenge you, White Dragon, for your power of the white flame." Both of them made eye contact, and the girl's eyes shined in response to his proposal. Jarek's face turned to a wide grin at the obvious excitement he had for this fight. "I'll enjoy ripping your heart out." He said, and the girl was unfazed by the remark. Ichigo, however, was getting worried.

Why did he feel something like this about someone he didn't know?

What would change in his life if she ended up dying?

_Why is she so important to him?_

Ichigo watched as Jarek charged towards her full force. He went to try and help her, but was delayed by the hollows that were still attacking. Jarek delivered a barrage of attacks, all of which the white dragon was avoiding. Most of them did not make contact, but with an aggravated yell from Jarek, he cut her cloak. She darted back away from him.

"Is that all the White Dragon is capable of doing? Avoiding attacks like a coward? Maybe my blade isn't to your liking?" He opened his mouth, blowing fire all around her. She transported out of the way, only to be met with a knee to her stomach. She stumbled to the ground, and Ichigo cleared a path to her. Jarek looped around for another attack with his scythe. Ichigo appeared in front of her.

"Getsuga, TEN-mmmph" The girl's hand covered his mouth, throwing off his concentration, and therefore cancelling the attack. The scythe closed in on them, and Ichigo put up his sword to block the attack. CLANG!

Their blades didn't meet. The girl's hand was in between them, but white scales covered it, protecting her from the attack.

"A partial transformation?! How are you able to do something like that?!" The red dragon said in anger. The White Dragon grabbed the scythe and yanked it out of Jarek's hands. She used it to knock him back. As her grip tightened, the blade crumbled in her hand.

No more scythe.

Ichigo maneuvered out of her grasp.

"What the heck? Why did you stop my attack?!" He questioned her, then Uryu joined them

"Because the moment you interfered, you'd have to be killed." Uryu said, now standing in front of them. "A challenge between two Ryuus cannot have anyone else involved or it's immediate death."

"How do you know this?" Ichigo asked.

"After we were sent to rescue her, I was intrigued by their kind and did a little research." He said as he pushed his glasses up on his nose.

"Of course you did." Ichigo said. A red streak tackled the girl and they both rocketed in the air. She kicked Jarek off of her, and he threw several red flames towards her as he raised his power. The white dragon dodged with ease, until suddenly he appeared above her and shot a concentrated stream of fire at close range. She used the white flames to protect herself, but it just forced her back to the ground.

Ichigo watched as she hit the ground, and disappeared in red flames. When they dissipated, nothing but white shreds of fabric were left. Jarek landed, laughing at his victory.

"I can't believe I trained so much to defeat a weakling like that." He continued laughing. Ichigo knew that couldn't have been the end of the fight, could it? The girl didn't display a bit of the strength he remembered when she defeated all of those hollows with one attack.

Suddenly, he felt a power begin to grow. Jarek looked behind him, feeling the power as well, and there she was, the cape gone.

She was exactly as Ichigo remembered. Her long, wavy white hair shined with purity with her dark blue eyes contrasting her fair complexion. Her clothes were a simple, high-low white dress with armor on her arms, torso, and legs. Her eyes held the same intense look as all those years ago, and her target was the red Ryuu in front of her.

*Hello once again! Thanks for reading, and as always I absolutely love reading your thoughts on the story so far! Can't wait to read them!

On a sidenote: I let my best friend read this and whenever she read the part about how Jarek pretty much trashed the soul society and how some of the soul reapers were in critical condition, she freaked out because she a crazed Byakyua fan. And I promised her that Byakyua was on a much needed vacation while the attack happened. I mean, seriously, the guy needs to smile more.

-RB*

Byakyua made his way back to the Seireitei after his forced vacation. He had just spent his time on a remote island where he did nothing but relax. Frankly, he was ready to be back. He would never say this out loud, but he actually missed the idiots around him. As he made his way to the entrance, he noticed that someone had blasted there way in, and that the huts behind it were in shambles. He made his way through the Seireitei to the infirmary, and saw that most of the stronger captains and soul reapers were badly injured. After hearing what had happened, he decided: No more vacations.


	4. Past

Past

The white Ryuu stared at her enemy. Ichigo just watched to see what her next move would be, while the red Ryuu stood in silent fear. The girl looked over at the sky as it started to fill with more hollows for the ragged soul reapers to battle, her gaze then shifted to Ichigo. Their eyes locked, and Ichigo couldn't bring himself to look away from her. Her gaze softened as a hint of sadness swept over her expression. It was almost like she was apologizing for all the trouble she had brought with her. The white Ryuu broke her gaze as she began to surround herself with the white flames, more intense than ever now. Jarek braced himself, for he knew her true power was rising.

The atmosphere pressed down on everyone around her. Suddenly, in a flash she was gone. Jarek had looked around frantically, only to be met with a knee in the back of his neck. He gasped from the pain and he was sent tumbling in the ground.

She flashed again, flying above him while he was still flying from her first attack, she grabbed his throat. He looked into her eyes, they were not frantic, like most girls like her would be in battle, but she seemed as if she had seen more than their share of fights.

White flames started escaping the corners of her eyes as she pressed him further in the ground, tearing up the asphalt beneath them. Jarek threw red flames towards her, but she easily dodged.

Escaping from her grasp he staggered to his feet as quickly as could. He wrapped his flames around his arm and threw a stream of flare towards her, she did the same. They both were in a match of strength now.

The White Ryuu held her calm demeanor as Jarek struggled to keep her fire at bay. She pushed herself through the red flames and grabbed his fist and threw him on his back.

Blood now running from his lips, he knew what was going to happen next. The white Ryuu began to slam her fist through his abdomen to finish him, but as Jarek screamed, her flame merely encircled around the both of them, creating a curtain of which no one could see in.

Confused, Jarek staggered to his knees.

"What are you going to do to me?" He said.

"Don't worry, I do not want to kill you." She said.

"Why not?! You won, you deserve to take my power, that is what we agreed for our duel."

"I did not make such conditions. Besides, I do not need more power." Jarek was taken aback. Never had he ever heard something so ridiculous.

"So what do you want?" She merely looked at him, and her eyes glowed. "AH!" He cried out in pain.

"I _do _need your loyalty." Jarek looked on his forearm, and there was now a white mark in the shape of a dragon tattooed on his skin. He looked back at the woman he now had to call master.

"You must be joking." He said.

"No. I want you to go back to the Ryuujin dimension and tell them that the orange haired soul reaper ceases to exist. And tell them that I was lost in the depths of the Fushigi Realm during our fight. Other than this, you are free."

"And if I refuse?" Her eyes glowed with intensity.

"You know what will happen. My flame will emerge from my mark and consume you."

It began to burn Jarek, but he placed his hand over the mark and agreed to the proposal.

The flames cleared, and Ichigo had finally caught a glimpse of the girl. She was unharmed, but the red Ryuu was gone. She had defeated him.

The white Ryuu turned to them and bowed deeply as she disappeared from him again.

The hollows then disappeared with her.

The group was so exhausted from the fight that had just ensued. Ichigo finally turned back from where the white dragon had stood. He watched everyone stagger to their feet. Uryu spoke first.

"Was that the girl we rescued all those years ago?"

"Yeah."

Back at the apartment, Arora woke up abruptly from her slumber. She rubbed her head to push a headache threating to erupt from the back of her head. Sia licked her hand. Arora rubbed her pet's head.

"So you've met Ichigo, then Sia?"

"Pru!"

"I take it you like him? You normally hiss and bite at other people."

"PPrrrrrruuuu…" Arora just laughed.

"I like him too, he is very kind."

She looked out of the window in a longing manner.

"I believe I'll go for a walk, want to join me?" She said as she stretched. The sky had begun to go dark. Sia turned away from her and curled up on the couch where Arora had just arisen from. "Alright, lazybones. Keep an eye on Orihime's things while I'm gone."

Arora locked the door behind her and began walking on the street. It was twilight now, and it was very beautiful. When she first moved here, she wasn't sure how she would like the city, being that she was used to the countryside. Not a building in sight for miles, and at this time of day it was a breathtaking view. But she had to admit, the city held its own natural charm to it.

"P-please leave me alone." She heard a small voice emerge from the alley she was walking past. She stopped right past the entrance and listened.

"Now why would I do that? You're such a pretty one."

"G-get away from me!" There was a thud following the girl's exclaims.

"You little…! You actually think some scrawny girl like you can get away from me?!" The girl screamed, and Arora couldn't stand by any longer.

"Excuse me, sir, but I think she wants to go home." She said with no panic in her voice. The girl looked at back at her with worry and hope both in her eyes. Fear caused tears to threaten to fall down from her eyes. She had short, blonde hair, and a very small frame.

"Do you really think I'm that stupid? Do you honestly think some little geek like you could intimidate me?! You've got another thing coming." He said as his gaze sharpened on Arora while his grasp on the girl's arm tightened. "Unless you want me to break this girl's arm, I suggest you get out of here." Arora took one step back. As the creep smiled and turned his back to Arora, she slammed a large chunk of concrete on the back of the guy's head.

He hit the ground like a chunk of lead.

"Man, this thing is heavy!" She said as she dropped it with a grunt. The other girl gazed at how easy she took down this guy. "Well, you can go home now! And don't worry about this guy, I'll take care of him."

The girl was in shock.

"Hey, are you okay?" She said as she placed a hand on her shoulder. After a short hesitation, Arora spoke again. "What's your name?"

"Yuzu…"

"Whoa, that's a really pretty name!"

"You think so?"

"Yeah! My name is a mouthful. It's Arora Baylin."

"It sounds like the name of an angel!" She exclaimed. Arora smiled at the girl's lightened mood.

"Alright, time for you to hurry home, okay? I would join you, but I want to make sure this creep doesn't terrorize any other girls." Arora pushed her out of the alley, paying no attention to the rousing soul behind them.

Something jerked her by the collar back into the alley and slammed her against the brick wall, knocking the breath out of her. Yuzu was staring back in shock. Arora looked back at her.

"GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!" She yelled. Yuzu was startled from Arora raising her voice so suddenly. Arora caught a gleam of metal from the man's right hand as he charged at her. She put her arm up to block the attack, but the knife went through her arm. Yuzu gasped, and Arora grit her teeth while trying not to cry out herself.

"You disgusting witch. I'll take my time with you." He said as he gripped Arora's chin with his other hand. She glanced to where Yuzu was, only to find her gone. Arora was relieved.

She moved her leg from underneath her attacker and kicked herself free. She pulled the knife out of her arm, and yelled at the pain shooting through her as she through the knife down. The man charged at her again, throwing his fists. Arora pulled back again and again to stay out of reach of him, until she hit the end of the dark alley. As he hurled another punch to her, she ducked out of the way making him hit the wall behind her. He screamed profanities as she ran off. Strangely, her body was getting weaker and slower. Not to mention her sight was getting blurry. She shook it off and kept running while gripping her bleeding arm.

Arora was caught by the shoulder and backhanded across the face. The headache that had begun to haunt her earlier was now in full swing as she was slammed against the wall.

The man laughed as Arora glared at him above her glasses. He caught a glimpse of them. And confusion and fear filled his face.

"What the…? Your eyes…why are they-?" A loud smack interrupted his sentence, as an orange streak passed in front of Arora. She fell to her knees from the weakness sweeping over her. Yuzu came beside her with the sound of punches filled the air.

"Arora, are you okay?" She said, worryingly.

"H-huh? I'm fine, no big deal." She said, smiling.

"Make sure you stay there!" A familiar voice sounded from a shadow in an alley, while the groans of a man in pain lingered. "Arora?"

"That voice, Ichigo?" He walked into the moonlight, and sure enough, it was him.

"Yeah," Ichigo said as he bent down beside her. "You're hurt."

"This? This is nothing but a scratch! And the bruise on my face won't last long." She said smiling.

"No! The man stabbed you with that knife! And you've lost a lot of blood already!" Yuzu yelled, close to tears. Ichigo picked her injured arm up to examine it.

"We better get this cleaned up tonight before it gets worse." He said. Arora cringed when he turned it. Yuzu had begun crying.

"Yuzu, there's no reason to cry." Arora said.

"B-but you got hurt and in you're in pain because of me."

"Nothing is your fault. It's not like you were the one who stabbed me." She placed her hand on the girl's shoulder. "I'll be alright, don't worry. I owe you a lot. Thank you for getting Ichigo here to help."

"We don't live that far from here, and he was home early from an outing he had with his friends." Yuzu said.

"Wait, you live with him?"

"Yuzu is my little sister." Ichigo said.

"Sis…ter? Really? I had no idea." She said as she awkwardly scratched her head. "Anyway, I think I'll be on my way now." Arora said as she pushed herself up, her body seemed heavier than before, and her legs gave out on her as she tried to walk. "Just lost my footing, I swear! I'm so clumsy…"

"You're not clumsy, you're weak from blood loss." Ichigo said. Yuzu placed Arora's good arm over her shoulders to help steady her.

"Please come with us. Our family has an emergency clinic, we can help." Yuzu said. Arora couldn't say no.

Arora struggled to stand on her feet, but she didn't want to accidently crush Yuzu. Before she knew it, they were at the Kurosaki Clinic. Arora fell in a chair, now really feeling the weakness sweeping over her.

"Can you remove your jacket?" Yuzu said.

"U-um, yeah." Arora said as she pulled her good arm out and then gently tugged her injured one out of it. She was now in a white sleeveless undershirt. Blood stained the bottom part. Arora could hear everyone rushing around, but couldn't make out what they were saying. A girl with short black hair began washing the wound. Arora leaned her head back. Normally anyone touching an open wound like on her arm would cause her pain, but her head was throbbing so much she couldn't feel it.

"Hey." She opened her eyes to see Ichigo holding an icepack to her. "This'll help."

"Thanks." Arora said as she straightened up and placed the ice pack to her bruised face.

"Thank you, for helping my sister." Ichigo said. Arora was surprised. She had worked with Ichigo for a while, and she hadn't ever seen that expression on his face before.

"No problem." She said as she smiled.

"Whoa!" The girl with the black hair said all of a sudden.

"Karin, what is it?" Yuzu said as she brought a glass of water for Arora.

"How did you get that scar?!" Karin said as she pointed to her upper arm that was injured. A large scar that nearly stretched to her elbow almost looked like a burn. Arora almost seemed surprised that they had noticed.

"Well, um. I was a bit of a rebel when I was younger." She said as she scratched her head awkwardly.

"You must have broken a lot of rules back in the day, huh?" Karin said with enthusiasm.

Arora only smiled sadly.

"More like I obeyed too well." Ichigo looked at her, confused. The expression on her face returns to the usual, carefree smile. "Anyway, since you got me all wrapped up, I think I should head back."

She tries to stand up, only for Ichigo's hand to hold her to the chair.

"You still look pale, so you're sleeping over." Arora's face involuntarily turned red from the sudden demand.

"He's right! You to build your strength!" Yuzu said.

"And we'll make sure Ichigo doesn't do anything to you in your sleep." Karin said.

"Like I would do anything!"

"You practically demanded she stay here like you wanted to try-"

"Karin!" Yuzu interrupted.

"Well, he did."

"Brother, that isn't true is it?"

"Why are you guys always making me out to be a pervert?!"

Arora laughed at the family's jabs at each other. When Ichigo's father walked through the front door, it only got worse.

She decided to walk around a bit to keep from getting so stiff from sitting in that chair. Ichigo's seemed like a normal living place, and it fit him and his family well. As she looked around she noticed a small memorial table with a small picture in the center. She was a beautiful woman with dark orange hair, and a smile that almost made her demeanor glow. Arora didn't know why, but she felt warm and safe looking at the woman in the picture. She reached out at touched the frame, when her vision went black.

_It was a gloomy day, with rain almost predicting a horror about to happen._

_A young boy with orange hair held his beautiful mother's hand as she smiled at him. As the boy looked to the river to their left, he saw a strange girl about to fall in. Releasing his mother's hand, he ran as fast as he could to help the girl before she fell to her death._

"_Ichigo! Stop!"_

_The hollow ripped the soul out of the woman and devoured it, leaving the little boy to find what was left…_

Hearing a large thud, Ichigo walked back into the kitchen to find Arora no longer her chair where she had been the past couple hours. The others had already went to sleep, trusting Arora with him. He looked around towards his mother's memorial to find Arora lying on the floor.

"Hey!" He got on his knees next to her, and pulled her up to see her face. She even more pale with her eyes wide open. She was breathing, but almost like she was in another world.

With a violent jump, she came back to the present. Sweat formed on her forehead and she breathed like she had just ran a hundred miles. She was sitting up by herself now.

"Hey? Are you okay?" He asked.

"My chest hurts, but I'm okay." She coughed a few times. "That's your mother isn't it?"

"Yeah." He hesitated. "You saw how she died didn't you?" All she could manage was a nod.

"I had no idea, I'm so sorry." She said with tears threatening to fall.

"It's okay." Arora placed her hand on her chest to help with the pain.

"I lost both of my parents a long time ago. They were murdered trying to protect me." Ichigo could almost see the memories flood into her eyes, but she shut them away. "So, I understand." She said as she gave him an empathetic look.

Ichigo looked back at the picture and remembered the times when he blamed himself for her death. It was something he could indeed never forget.

"Are you feeling better?" He asked.

"A little." She said.

"Good, you're going to need some rest to get your strength back." He stood up, and offered his hand to her. She took it, and he effortlessly pulled her up.

"Yeah, I don't like feeling this way." She said as she smiled. Ichigo watched as she made her way to the couch.

"Try not to wonder around again." Ichigo said with a small smile.

"No problem." She said as she laughed.

_Ichigo was standing in the middle of a field, there was no one around him_. _A black dragon flew over his head, and a white dragon flew up to him. It landed a few feet away. It looked at him with dark blue eyes, and then it turned away from him. It's large figure shrunk into the form of a girl he knew too well. Her wavy white hair blew in the wind. Ichigo began walking up to her._

_Her white clothes slowly faded to black, and her hair fell straight. Ichigo stopped when the sky went black. The peaceful field around them turned into a chaos of bloodied bodies. It looked like a slaughterhouse. He looked to the girl in front of him, in hopes of making sense of this. She turned, and her eyes were no longer blue. They glowed a blood red. Splatters of the same color covered her face and arms. _

_She now faced him. She held a head of an enemy with horror etched on his face, and a blade in the other hand covered in crimson. Black flames consumed the head as she dropped it. _

_Suddenly, she disappeared. Before Ichigo could think, she was at his throat with her blade…_

He practically jumped out of his bed. Sunlight gleamed through his window.

"What the heck was that?"

-Sorry guys for the delay! I love this story and hopefully I can piece together everything I have planned for this story and it make some sense. If it doesn't, it's because most of the time I'm up late in the night typing. Thanks! I can't wait to read your reviews!

-RB


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